


Random Scene Dump

by celticdreamz



Series: Everything's Changed [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-30
Updated: 2015-04-30
Packaged: 2018-03-26 10:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3846682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celticdreamz/pseuds/celticdreamz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This will be a repository for random scenes from the "Everything's Changed" series, but that don't belong to a specific fic.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Random Scene Dump

**Author's Note:**

> This will be a repository for random scenes from the "Everything's Changed" series, but that don't belong to a specific fic.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One-shot scene set before the events of Winter Soldier.

The break room on the administration level of the Triskelion was mostly deserted at oh-two-thirty. Rain pelted the glass, but the sound went ignored. The same went for the view and the lukewarm cup of coffee on one of the tables. It had been a bad day. One of the worst since New York. Not that Commander Maria Hill would admit it. At least not aloud.

With her elbows on the table and her face buried in her hands, she mostly ignored the sound of footsteps walking up behind her. There was only a handful of people that had any reason to be in the building much less on that floor at that time of night. Coulson would've said something. Fury would've ordered her to go home. The steps were too heavy for one of the female agents. Rumlow was on his way back with what was left of his STRIKE team. Shitwell knew better than to sneak up on her. That left...

"You okay?"

Rogers.

"I lost two agents today." Hill didn't bother looking up from her hands.

"I know," he replied. His own hands moved to rest on her shoulders. Thumbs firmly started massaging at her neck. "Natasha told me."

"They shouldn't have died."

"You couldn't have known that op would go sideways," he answered, strong fingers kneading away the tension in her muscles.

Having someone in her personal space wasn't something Hill had ever been comfortable with. She'd learned from a very young age not to be within swinging distance of her father. Touch and affection were as foreign to her as the dark side of the moon. Any time she let anyone get close, she usually ended up bleeding. Except now. She trusted Rogers and his old fashioned manners. Trusted him not to break her neck which he could very easily do. But he didn't.

"It doesn't matter. It's still on me." Hill replied.

The feel of Rogers' hands leaving her shoulders and the sound of a nearby chair being pulled across the floor finally made her look up. There wasn't a whole lot of sympathy to be found in his blue eyes, but there was an understanding.

"Do you have a crystal ball?"

"No."

"What about some kind of special ability that lets you see into the future?"

"No."

"Then there's really no way you could've known how that op would turn out." Again, his hand rested on her shoulder. "They knew from the moment they signed on with SHIELD that they might have to make the ultimate sacrifice. And that is _not_  on you."

"That doesn't make notifying the next of kin suck any less."

"I know, and I don't guess that part of the job will ever stop sucking. Now, why don't you go home and get some rest?"

Hill shook her head. "Because I know I wouldn't be able to think of anything else but how that clusterfuck could've been prevented. What I could've done differently. What they could've done differently. How to train for that in the future."

"Promise me that, at some point, you'll get some rest. Beating yourself up about something that honestly wasn't your fault isn't doing anyone any favors."

There was something about the tone in his voice that made her think he was speaking from experience. That comforted her more than anything. Hill exhaled a long breath and nodded.

"I promise."

"Good." A smile spread across his face. "I'll hang around for a little while down in the gym if you want me to drive you home."

"Appreciated, but not necessary," she answered with a tiny smile of her own. "There's a quiet room with a few cots down the hall from my office. I can just grab some shut eye there."

"If you change your mind, you know where to find me," he said, standing up from the table.

"I'm clear," she nodded then looked up at him. "And thanks."

"Anytime."


End file.
